Top 10 Mary Kay Ash Quotes from “Miracles Happen”

In case you don’t know this already, I’m a big fan of Mary Kay Ash. What I admire most about her is her vision and her entrepreneurial skills. She had to overcome so many obstacles to become successful. She is a true business icon, creating opportunities for millions of women throughout the world. Although she is no longer with us today, her legacy continues.

I try to read her books and study her success principles whenever I can. One of my favorite Mary Kay Ash books is “Miracles Happen.” What you will see below are my top 10 favorite Mary Kay Ash quotes from the book. I will also share my own thoughts on each quote.

1. “If you decide to become an entrepreneur you must also be willing to work harder than you would ever work in an ordinary job.”

My Take: Succeeding as an entrepreneur requires tons of hard work, regardless of the business model you choose. In most cases, you will work at least twice as many hours as you did as an employee, especially in the first couple years of your business. You must be willing to roll up your sleeves and get to work if you want success in your business (any type of business). In addition, during your first one to three years in business you will typically earn a lot less per hour than you did with your job!

2. “Looking good makes you feel better.”

My Take: When you look good, you feel good. One of the quickest ways to improve your self image is to dress better. Pay attention to how you look. Buy the nicest clothes you can reasonably afford. If you are a woman, wear makeup to improve your outer and inner image. Right or wrong, other people will judge you by how you look and how you dress.

3. “I think it’s healthy to always have something to reach for, and to replace a realized dream with a new one.”

My Take: Everyone needs goals to shoot for. Your goals should stretch you and test you. They should force you out of your comfort zone. Your goals should be written down on paper. Good goals give you purpose and direction. Whenever you reach one of your goals you should immediately set a new goal to pursue. Always have something to strive for! I can’t speak for you, but one of the reasons I’ve become successful is because I have written goals that guide me.

My Take: Most people crave appreciation. They don’t feel appreciated by their spouse, kids or employer. If you can show appreciation to people on your team (and to your customers) many of them will stick around with you for a long time. And the best way to show appreciation is to do it in front of a group of people. In the Army, I learned the advice “punish in private and praise in public. ” Follow that advice and you will be good to go.

5. “God first, family second and career third.”

My Take: Everyone needs priorities. If you are religious, this is a good list to follow. If you’re not religious, you should put your family first and career second. There’s no point achieving success if you lose your family in the process. And your kids will only be kids for a small portion of your life. Never forget that. Do things in order of importance! What good is career success if you end up old, alone and miserable?

6. “A salesperson should never discuss personal problems with customers.”

My Take: It’s okay if you have problems, but keep them to yourself. Never share your personal problems with your customers or team members. Problems should be addressed to your upline or sponsor. Problems go up, never down. I learned the same concept as an Army Officer. Your customers and team members have their own problems. They don’t need to know about yours.

7. “The speed of the leader is the speed of the gang.”

My Take: People will do what you do, not what you say. Make sure that you set a strong personal example for others to follow. Always be out in the trenches sponsoring new reps and getting new customers. Never get into management mode. Lead by example at all times and practice what you preach.

8. “A person competes best when she competes against herself.”

My Take: Help people on your team compete against themselves. Help them set monthly goals and daily goals so they can constantly get better. Don’t have your average performers beat themselves up because other people on your team are doing better than they are. Help people get better each day. Have friendly competitions on your team where you can have more than one winner.

9. “I believe you can have anything you want in this world, but yes, you do have to pay the price.”

My Take: Success is never easy. Whether building a Mary Kay business or any other type of business, you have to sell out to the idea. You have to invest your blood, sweat and tears for several years. Most people aren’t willing to do that, but the ones that do make an exceptional income. Everything comes with a price. You must be persistent and committed.

10. “I have learned that people who do succeed are set apart by their personalities, objectives and abilities.”

My Take: Success leaves clues. Success is simply the process of doing certain things a certain way. If you want to succeed with Mary Kay, study what the top earners do! And then go out and do what they did. If you do that, you will get the same results. Although most of the top earners in our industry come from different backgrounds, they also have a lot of things in common. Some of the things they have in common are vision, a big desire to success, commitment and perseverance.

Final Thoughts

These top 10 Mary Kay Ash quotes are from her Miracles Happen book. If you haven’t checked out the book, you should. It’s an amazing read. And whether you are in Mary Kay or not, you should study Mary Kay Ash. You can learn a lot from this business icon.

What are your thoughts? What is your favorite quote on this list? Leave a comment below to let me know what you think. If you’d like to order a copy of the book, click here.

About chuckholmes

Chuck is a Network Marketing Professional, author, Certified Small Business Coach and blogger. He's been in the industry since 2002. He enjoys reading, writing, exercising, BBQ, buying and selling antiques, and watching funny movies. He lives in Homosassa, Florida with his wife, Rachel.

4 thoughts on “Top 10 Mary Kay Ash Quotes from “Miracles Happen””

I have very much respect for Mary Kay Ash. When I see so many distributors and I see how they live, I know their system works. If I were female, I believe there is a great chance I would be a Mary Kay representative.

I would like to offer my take on a few of these quotes also.

#2. This is tried and true. When I was in home improvement sales, we wore shirts and ties. Many argued with this and said we could do just as well with t-shirts and jeans. It was tested and numbers dropped substantially. Dress for success!

#5. This is my biggest one. I must say that you do not have to be religious to put God first. No matter a person’s beliefs, we all have a God. If we put this in proper order, only great things will follow.

I, too, have read quite a bit about Mary Kay Ash. Long ago, I was assigned a research paper on her in college. This woman has worked hard her whole life to get to the top. Her MLM company is known around the globe. One thing I had never read, however, was her quote about God first, family second, career third. I already thought highly of her, but she’s gone up another notch, in my estimation! I might have to check out some of her newer books!